Tech Industry: CES In Depth dives into 2013 trends

Tech Industry: CES In Depth dives into 2013 trends

17:10 /
January 11, 2013

CNET's Bridget Carey and Roger Cheng break down the big stories from opening day of CES 2013, and talk with David Steel, executive vice president at Samsung.

-Welcome back-- Welcome back live to the CNET stage at CES 2013 in Las Vegas.
This is CES in Depth.
I'm Bridget Carey with my colleague, Roger Cheng, and for the next 25 minutes or so, we'll be diving into the hottest news of the show so far and the big trend word here today aside from TVs always been big as 4K and OLED.
-Right.
-And we just heard from Panasonic that they've combined the two together.
They have a 4K OLED.
-Right.
-This is the one of the first.
It's a prototype they're showing off.
-If you can't get enough definition, this is the TV for you.
-Yeah.
-It always has one of the other guy when it comes to TV.
-Exactly.
-That's how it works.
-Exactly.
-And Panasonic has been doing a lot at their show.
I mean, we've seen all types of products everything from headphones that have bone conduction so you don't actually stick the music in your ears,--
-Right.
-you just stick it on your cheekbones and hear it that way, some crazy stuff like that.
They're taking on Roku with a streaming media box.
-Uh-huh.
-They are all over the place it seems.
So, it's like they're coming out with guns-a-blazing.
-Right.
Let's-- It's interesting if you go to the show, if you follow the show, look at the show floor and listen to all the presentations, you'd never know that Panasonic was actually in deep financial trouble.
-Yeah.
They're not doing so good lately, I read.
-Yeah, yeah.
I mean, this really could end up being the last draw for Panasonic.
I mean, at one point, the CEO dropped a hint that he might even drop the entire consumer business because a lot of it is not profitable.
-This is the Consumer Electronic Show, so you know, they've-- that's a big deal for them--
-That would be a big deal.
Absolutely.
-to have all these things on here.
So, do you think like, I guess, this is their big hurrah, that if it doesn't
take, then we might not see them again?
-It could very well be, yeah.
-That's pretty crazy.
Well, we'll have to, I guess, keep watch on that.
Another trend we're seeing this year is NFC and everything just wirelessly connecting to other devices.
By touch, we're sharing all of our media in different ways.
-Uh-huh.
-We've seen, once again, Panasonic, right?
-Right.
-They had a phone, be able to just touch to your TV to be able to send your media that way.
-Right.
-But Sony had a lot of devices that they want your phone--
-You can tap your phone to your remote control, which makes a lot more sense if you think about it.
-Yeah.
-You're not gonna walk all the way of your TV to tap it every time, so-- Nice-- It's nice [unk] thing.
-You know, it's interesting.
When NFC first came out, it was all about mobile payments.
It was all about, hey, you're gonna be able to use this at the register.
And now, I'm seeing nothing about payments here.
-Yeah.
Well, I mean, I haven't covered the industry for a while.
I've heard about the mobile payment story for the last several years and this year is supposed to be the year of mobile payments.
It's what I've heard every year in the last three years.
-Every year where I think we hear that this is the-- this is the year--
-So--
-we're gonna--
-Yeah.
And NFC has sort of been hailed as the technology that will bring mobile payments out there.
You take your phone.
You tap by the counter of the grocery store.
Boom!
You're done.
That hasn't really happened, but what we're seeing at this show, a lot of different other uses for NFC, the biggest one obviously pairing the devices together and it's--
-Uh-huh.
-something that makes a complete sense for consumers, right?
I mean, you're just tapping two devices together to kind of bridge them.
It's just-- It's instinctive.
It makes sense and I think we're going away from this whole mobile payment shift and it seems
like their shift is more towards pairing-- you know, pairing speakers,--
-Okay.
-pairing other accessories.
-So, is it gonna save me much time, you know, compared to when I'm just opening a bluetooth anyway.
It's probably not, but it's kinda cool.
-Well, I think it does actually 'cause Bluetooth has always been, I mean, one of the knockoffs.
It's a little cumbersome, you know.
-Yeah.
-You gotta-- You gotta log in.
You gotta type in the ID.
NFC is dead.
Simply, you just tap the phone onto a speaker or remote control of the TV and boom!
They're connected.
-Uh-huh.
-And you don't have to think about it.
-And then you can go to someone else's house and we're all tapping each other's speakers and we're all gonna have a party
with our own music.
-Yeah, well, it's an-- Yeah, it's interesting tapping party.
It will be awesome.
-You know, I think it's probably the one-- the one home device that you can see people getting their heads around and wanting to understand and actually wanting to buy versus, you know, how payments have been going nowhere.
-Right.
-But that'll be interesting to see how that picks up in the consumer space.
I don't know about you.
I've seen a lot of corky gadgets this year.
Loving all the different innovations I'm seeing and one that has been written about today is
something like Rosie the robot for smokers.
This is weird.
It's called the Famibots and I'm pulling it up.
It's the concept of a Roomba where it just kind of roams on its own,
-Right.
-but it's gonna-- it's an air purifier that will sense whence the air is impure in a certain corner.
So, if someone is a smoker, it's gonna go after you.
-I love it.
I think it is the best-- possible best way of telling a smoker to quit 'cause you have a little robot following you everywhere you go.
It's like quit smoking--
-Yeah.
If you tried everything else, now, you
can have just stick this robot on someone, but it does a little bit more to do.
It apparently has a camera in it, so it's a home monitor that will let you know if someone is unexpectedly home and it also plays music.
It's another bluetooth device.
-It's the first step of robotic butler.
That's exactly what I'm looking for.
-Yeah, at $900 for a robotic butler, that's what the-- it will come out in March.
So, you know, if that's in your price range, you don't have to worry about, you know, holiday tipping, you know, for a normal housework.
So--
-Yeah, I guess-- I guess you could save
some money.
My studio apartment probably can use a robot like that, but that would be a premature waste.
-When it comes to these smart devices, I mean, could you use anything that could help you out in the home?
I mean, I know we have seen pool cleaners even here.
-Smart pool cleaners, smart vacuums 'cause I need to play Angry Birds on my vacuum cleaner.
-Angry Birds on your vacuum cleaner.
Usually, a big hit with the home pets.
-Sure, sure.
-Well, you know,--
-I mean, what else have you seen-- anything else on the show that you've seen?
-Yeah.
You know, more and more health devices every year.
I'm not sure how many people are actually wanting to check their blood pressure, but it's cool that you can--
-Yeah.
-and there's more choices for it.
-Yeah.
-Perhaps, it's getting the price down.
I don't know about you when it comes to health devices, what maybe you actually wanna track.
I mean, I care to know if I have a pulse.
It's good to know that you still have a pulse, you know, but--
-I check every 15 minutes really.
I kinda get it.
I mean, especially, stuff like the Fuel Band and Fitbit, I mean--
-You've used some of these workout devices.
-Oh yeah.
-I mean, does that motivate you anymore?
-What I found is
it motivates for a little while and then your natural-- well, my natural ADD tendencies, it just sort of becomes less interesting to me unless gimmicky and-- so I stopped using it basically.
-Really?
-Yeah.
Although the Fuel Band I love because it's on your wrist.
Whenever I'm drinking beer, I'm actually working out and it tells me I'm burning fuel.
I'm burning Nike fuel.
-So, there you go.
Positive reinforcement--
-Positive reinforcement.
-makes you feel good about yourself.
-Yeah, yup.
-You know, I would like something to actually, yeah, motivate me because,
unless your friends are on it, the gamification--
-Right.
-of all this--
-Yes.
-people are pushing apps for gamification.
I'm curious just if I have any friend who actually would be on it; otherwise, it's just me and I'm not motivating myself as it is.
-What?
I think that-- That's-- I think the key is getting your friends on it and I'm sure that's what Nike wants to hear with the FuelBand, but it doesn't work as well unless there's a social element there.
Like, if all your friends are on Fitbit or have the FuelBand and you guys are comparing, competing, I think it works really well and it's-- there's something that'd kinda keep you in the game as opposed to just sort of doing it yourself so--
Ultimately, I mean, you're still exercising and it's all about self motivation, right?
So--
-Uh-huh.
-And what about the laziness factor of now Fitbit putting on your wrist instead of having it be on your hip and then taking off to go to sleep on your wrist.
So, maybe, everyone is just gonna have a wristband.
I mean, is that where we're going, you think?
I don't know.
-Yeah, it seems like it.
-Easier than having the pedometer 'cause, especially as a woman, where am I gonna put it on my dress?
-It's also easy, cheap.
-I can't really work with it.
-So, yes.
-Yeah, the pedometers are cheaper, though.
Okay, we gotta--
we have to squeeze in a quick break and be back with our special guest, Samsung's David Steel.
Stick around.
Welcome back to CES in Depth.
I'm Bridget Carey with Roger Cheng and joining us on the CNET stage is David Steel with Samsung.
-Hi.
-And you brought some goodies with us.
So, love to see them.
-Yup.
-Always love the gadgets and goodies.
-So what do we have here?
-Okay, so this is the first one.
-It looks like--
-This is the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1.
-Ooh.
-It launched last year, but this brand new here at CES is with embedded 4G LTE with Verizon Wireless.
-Also, for the first time, we're gonna get some 4G LTE on Verizon.
-First time we'll be able to use that outside.
That's nice.
-Yup.
So, now, you can take it around where you've got access to the 4G LTE network.
Obviously, it's a great tablet, but key feature on this Galaxy Note 10.1 is the S Pen.
So--
-Oh and I think it's hidden back over here.
-Right on cue.
-Oh, it just snaps right out.
-Please Bridget.
-This is really coming out of a sense of how do we make all of our products more intuitive, easier to use.
So, in this case, having a pen where you can enter through handwriting, it's very easy to manipulate and it's also a feature that we came out last year with Samsung right on cue--
-Oh!
-Samsung Galaxy Note.
This is a--
-Tablet.
-Note 2 and the same
thing about just having this S Pen pull out, so being on different devices.
-Uh-huh.
It's a--
-Yeah, I'm a big fan of having that pen embedded in the actual device 'cause how many times, you know, this I said, the stylus is prone to be lost.
-It's gotta be embedded.
-You don't want to leave one with you?
Is that--
-Yes.
-Actually--
-Well, just leave it out in the green room.
-Okay.
-Now, this is definitely a popular one with the Galaxy.
I love it.
It's so-- It's so beautiful.
You guys are good at that.
-Yeah, keep it.
-And what else have you got--
-So what have you got here?
-So this is one of
our new laptops here at the show.
This is Series 7 Ultra.
So, this one-- it's using Windows 8, so you have all the advantages of touchscreen, eight-hour battery life.
-Touch is everything now, isn't it?
-Touch is very important.
I mean, we see displays now on so many different devices all the way from smartphones, tablets, PCs, obviously smart [unk]
-Well, I'm curious though, especially--
smart-- Yes, I need-- I definitely need to tap my refrigerator three or four times a day randomly.
-Just for kicks?
-Just for kicks.
If I had touchscreen there, I probably would.
When I asked about the touchscreen, it's a-- I mean, it's cool, but what do you hear from customers about whether or not they want this.
I mean, especially, I'm assuming there's an added cost to having a touchscreen-- a giant touchscreen display like this.
What exactly is the demand for touchscreen?
-So, touchscreen, we see really big coming, very common across the whole series of devices because it's
so easy for consumers to use.
-Uh-huh.
-I think so many consumers with smartphones who've got used to touchscreen,--
-Right.
-it's something they're very familiar with.
So, on a PC environment, again, having it there is something very familiar.
It's very conformable.
Try to make it more intuitive and that's something we've done also on the smart TV interface this year.
-Uh-huh.
-Try to get-- As we make devices smarter, more complicated, put more functions and features in, how do we still think hard about how to make them easy to use?
-It's a Window-- It's obviously a Windows 8 computer.
I wanted to ask you-- I mean, so far, I mean, in its early goings, how is Windows 8 doing?
-So, for Samsung, we're doing very well in the PC market.
I mean, I can't talk about Windows as a whole, really.
-Right.
-Thank you for buying 10.
So, we're doing well.
We were the fastest growing PC brand in the US last year.
We think Windows 8 brings a lot of great features, again, experience from smartphones and tablets now into the PC environment.
Design is becoming more of a feature of PCs.
-Uh-huh.
-We see the consumerization of the workplace, you know, the bring your own device--
-Sure.
-obviously happening on smartphones and tablets, but also everyone's looking for an easier experience for the PC at work.
So--
-Uh-huh.
-again, we can see the benefits of touch in the Windows 8 functionality.
-You know, obviously, TVs tend to be the star of CES, and you guys brought a couple of wappers out for the show.
-Not right here though.
-No, not--
-A little too big.
-A little too big to roll out on the stage.
But, you know, everyone's talking about Ultra HD, 4K.
It's not exactly in your basic consumer price range, you know, and I wanna know from your perspective when it comes to televisions, what do you see as being the more popular feature that we're gonna be getting sooner and wanting to, you know, get in our TVs next year, a little more practical than maybe taking out a car loan for our big 4K TV that we're sustaining.
-Or buy a new home to fit the Samsung--
-Right.
-110-inch UHD TV in.
-What are some of the new features we're gonna be seeing that probably more of us will be able to be affording and checking out in the next line of TVs?
-Yes.
Certainly, in the short term, it's gonna be a lot about smart TVs.
More than 60% of large screen TVs now are being internet connected so the TV is really an internet device or appliance in the home.
And then we see all the different applications and services that come from that.
We're showing a new recommendation engine at this year's show that will help you--
-So it's gonna tell me what to watch when I don't know what to watch?
-Yeah.
It will help you find content that you're interested in for broadcast TV.
-Okay.
-It will link to all your other devices like smartphones and tablets so you can get access to content that's stored there, videos you've taken, or photos that you've shot, and social media because--
-Uh-huh.
-TV is still a lean back experience.
You want to look at the big screen TV--
-Uh-huh.
-or you want to learn about social media at the same time.
All right, everyone is always connected--
-Uh-huh.
-So many people are multitasking.
So, smart TVs are really gonna be the focus, I think, for the next few years--
-Uh-huh.
-and then we'll see technologies like OLED.
We'll see UHD as well starting to grow.
-Okay, very cool, very cool.
And you were talking about with getting content, you know, between the TV and be able to search for that, what was that new technology you guys-- the software--
-The search function, right?
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
It was like a search function.
-What's-- What-- Yeah, how's that-- Explain how that works and it's supposed to cross different devices beyond just your TV, right?
-I think it was called single search.
-Yes.
So, more and more consumers are looking for, you know, one device to
connect to other devices and you can either do that device to device or you can do it through the cloud, through a service.
But what we're putting in a new smart TV lineup is a way of searching content that's stored on other devices that are connected wirelessly to that TV.
So, it's a way of you do have like photos you've taken on your smartphone or you've got images on your tablet, you can connect to those and very easily view those on the TV.
So trying to connect devices, that's gonna be a big trend for us in 2013.
Obviously, we've got all of these different screens.
How can you link them together?
-Actually, I wanted to ask you about the phenomenon of this stacking image--
-Yeah.
-I know.
We're trying to keep you on your toes here.
This is a phenomenon of stacking of, you know, watching TV and playing with your tablet what [unk] a lot of people.
What I do, I always say, I'm usually searching for stuff on that TV usually, whatever-- X-Factor or I'm looking at the bio of the singer there, not that I watch X-Factor, but what exactly is Samsung doing?
What's the thinking there for how you sort of better bridge the information gap from the tablet to the TV is like a way to actually get some of that information automatically fed into the tablet or?
-Yeah, so one example of it is the remote control.
I mean, we've already seen lots of apps on smartphones and tablets that can act as a remote control.
Some of them are quite smart,
-Right.
-meaning you can actually see some previous things like that.
We also have second screen content and increasingly now working with content producers who actually want
to produce content for multiple screens, so that they're programming to a TV together with a connected tablet environment.
-And they're working specifically with you guys or--
-Yeah, we sponsored in the New York Television Festival--
-Uh-huh.
-a contest among producers to actually come up with TV content on multiple screens.
So, as more of these screens get connected, games are fantastic example, right?
You could be sitting there with your smartphone.
This is your hand of cards and on the TV is
like the--
-Right.
-dealer's deck or whatever for everyone to see.
So, this multi-screen environment is one that now content producers can program to and we can connect the devices.
-Uh-huh.
-You know, I know the big problem a lot of us have is that we have video that's, you know, in the cable box, but it's also on Netflix and Hulu and searching through that.
I mean, is this something that you guys are looking into being the answer I need to-- so I had to stop opening up a different app each time I wanna search for something?
-Yes.
So more and more, we're getting that.
[unk] APIs are opened up and then we've worked with third parties.
We have a very big program on a smart TV platform with third parties for that.
Most consumers do have preferred services that they'll watch video content through, but you know, we have that way that you can see.
You know, here are the different services that you can use to access that particular content.
-Okay.
-So really making it easy, taking advantage of touchscreens and then really the smarts in the TV.
When we talk about smart TV, you should get some benefit from it.
-I could always use it to be a little bit more smarter everyday, right?
-Absolutely.
-Well, thank you so much Mr.
Steel.
-Thank you.
-I appreciate it.